Tag Archives: Stars

Here is the instance, here is Antoine Roussel. Here is the reason why I will call no mortal hockey player happy. – Sophocles

By Rich Lindbloom

While driving home from work Tuesday night on the tollway, it appeared I was being passed by the reincarnation of “The Intimidator,” Dale Earnhardt. I was doing 70 mph and saw this car zig-zagging through heavy traffic in my rear view mirror. As he flew by me, (in the right lane of course), he found two narrow openings. No doubt, he shaved 5 to 10 minutes of his commute home that evening. His driving was breathtaking, on the edge, and inches from death. Momentarily, I entertained the notion of ramming him, much like the Blackhawks’ attitude towards the #21 car on Dallas last Tuesday. Read more »

Well it can be said the Blackhawks own the Stars in their barn. If the Dallas players give a darn, they should all be embarrassed.

The Hawks rolled out with the usual on the 1st line on Tuesday night in Dallas, and then everything thereafter was scrambled around. Old man Zus and Versteeg joined Kane on the second line. Saad, Shaw and Morin made up a 3rd line that would make most 2nd lines blush. Smith, Kruger and Bollig round out the dirty line. Mike Kostka was back in the lineup for the Hawks and appears to have come back a better player – convenient. Read more »

Remember the phrase “Home sweet home”? Well the Blackhawks have finally returned back to the United Center with faint smells of horse dung still lingering in the air. The circus has travelled to its next destination and the Indian head shines bright at center ice once again. The opponent on Tuesday was the same Dallas Stars that the Hawks played in Big D five days prior. That game went to a shootout with Ben Smith grabbing the victory as the 11th shooter, ripping one over Kari Lehtonen’s glove. The league leading Hawks completed their best circus trip going 6-1 and winning 6 straight after losing to Colorado to begin the trip. I smell another streak on the horizon, better scent than horse droppings. All four lines are clicking for Coach Q making it easier to have any given line out against any of the oppositions attack. Duncan Keith is making a strong case for a Norris nod being named 3rd star of the week with 6 assists. The Stars will be without one key element heading into Chicago. Tyler Seguin is suffering from concussion like symptoms and was sidelined for this event. Read more »

The Chicago Blackhawks rallied from a third-period deficit once again, coming back in Dallas to force a shootout Friday night. It took eleven shooters, but Ben Smith provided the margin of victory as the Hawks prevailed 2-1.

First Period-Duncan Keith came up with a steal and found Patrick Kane coming out of the Hawks zone. Kane took the puck up the ice and got off a shot that was knocked away by Kari Lehtonen two minutes into the game.

The Stars goalie denied Jonathan Toews a few minutes later and stopped a one-timer by Brent Seabrook near the five-minute mark. At the other end of the ice, Corey Crawford made five saves, including stops on Ray Whitney and Ryan Garbutt in the first six minutes. Read more »

The Chicago Blackhawks completed a sweep of a back-to-back weekend Sunday. The Hawks bested the Edmonton Oilers 5-4 in a see-saw affair that saw Chicago’s depth prevail with some big goals from the lower lines.

The win, coupled with a 5-2 decision over Dallas on Saturday night, is Chicago’s fifth in the last six games. Here’s a look at a four-point weekend.

Saturday vs Stars-Though the Hawks were visiting Dallas, it was the Chicago stars that came out to shine in a 5-2 victory.

First Period-Dallas opened the scoring in the seventh minute after Shawn Horcoff gained entrance to the Blackhawks zone. Horcoff dropped the puck off to Jordie Benn just inside the blue line. Benn sent the puck to Trevor Daley, who fired on the Chicago net, where Horcoff and Cody Eakin were there to attack. Eakin backhanded the loose puck past Corey Crawford and gave the Stars a 1-0 lead. Read more »

Oftentimes when a good young player graduates a level there is at least a brief adjustment, or feeling out period.

And, in most cases, at some point, there are those moments or nights when you can almost witness that proverbial light bulb going off in the player’s head – when he, himself, becomes convinced his abilities do apply at that next level. On a shift, or a moment of pure instinct, his skills take over and he leaves behind the indecisiveness and over-thinking that naturally occurs when adapting to a new environment.

Prior to game two of the IceHogs 2013-14 season on Sunday in suburban Austin, Texas, Mark McNeill had appeared in 13 games in an IceHogs sweater and was without a point. Seven of those came at the end of his 18 year old junior season, and five more at the end of last season. In those late season cameos, McNeill barely showed even brief flashes of the attributes that made him the 18th overall selection in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Read more »

I don’t have any shows of my own planned at the moment, but I can announce that I will be joining the HockeeNight PuckCast this Sunday night, April 21st. We’ll be discussing the Blackhawks as they get primed for postseason; either a Rockford IceHogs post-mortem or playoff preview and if maybe even more 1960’s and 70’s northeast professional wrestling as we did last time I did the PuckCast.

–Nashville Predators’ winger Kevin Henderson will be making his NHL debut tonight against the Blackhawks at the UC. Back in 2007, Henderson was an invitee to the Blackhawks summer prospect camp. At that camp, Henderson skated on Jonathan Toews’ line. The summer ’07 camp was the one just prior to Toews and Patrick Kane’s rookie seasons.

DYLAN OLSEN UPDATE

The Blackhawks 2009 first round pick suffered a foot injury on April 7th in a game against the Peoria Rivermen in Rockford. Olsen blocked a shot off his left foot during the second period of that game and has not played since.

Olsen was back skating with the IceHogs this week and could possibly play in the regular season finale tomorrow night in Cedar Park, Texas. Olsen has been ruled out of tonight’s game in San Antonio, however.

The Chicago Blackhawks swept the season series from the Dallas Stars Monday night at the United Center. Dallas came in the winners of five consecutive contests but was no match for a Blackhawks squad that parlayed a big third period into a 5-2 victory.

The win is Chicago’s sixth in a row and puts them one win from locking up home ice in the Western Conference. Three points from Marian Hossa and an active night by the third line, led by Andrew Shaw, paced the Blackhawks effort.

Brandon Saad took a nice feed from Jonathan Toews in the first minute of action. However, he could not settle the puck and the attempt was off the mark. The Hawks settled into the Dallas zone for much of the opening minutes. Read more »

With Big Ten college basketball invading the United Center this weekend, it was time for the Blackhawks to embark on a 4 game road trip spanning over 7 days. Game one was a tricky task beating the Blue Jackets in a shootout. This was the last meeting between the two clubs for this year and in the years to come the Hawks and ‘Jackets will become less familiar.

Now that the NHL realignment has been approved from the players and the business end, Columbus will be heading east. With the new division, currently under a naming process, the Hawks will only see those pesky Jackets twice a year. A team they will begin to be acquainted with are the Stars from Dallas. Dallas will move into the Hawks division which sees them playing each other 6 times a season. The last time these two teams met was back in the first week of this shortened season. Marian Hossa fired the overtime winner past Kari Lehtonen. Read more »

The Blackhawks extended their winning streak to four games with a 3-2 comeback win in Dallas, capped off by Marian Hossa‘s league-leading fifth goal of the season less than two minutes into overtime. The Stars got out to a 2-0 lead in the second, thanks in large part to a stellar performance from goaltender Kari Lehtonen, but the Blackhawks offensive pressure proved to be too much to handle.

The Blackhawks outshot Dallas 12-6 in the first period, but they came up empty on two power play opportunities and, just as the period was coming to an end, gave up a shorthanded goal to Loui Eriksson. Read more »